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Friday, December 13, 2013

"Armor" That Senses Surveillance Cameras

Or, more correctly, senses the infrared illumination from many surveillance cameras. From the Atlantic:

London-based artist James Bridle ... has created a wearable device he calls the “surveillance spaulder.” Inspired by the original spaulder—a piece of medieval plate armor that protected “the wearer from unexpected and unseen blows from above”—the surveillance spaulder alerts the wearer to similarly unseen, if electronic, attacks. Whenever its sensor detects the the type of infrared lighting commonly used with surveillance cameras, it sends an electric signal to two “transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation” pads, which causes the wearer to twitch.

The article also notes:

The surveillance spaulder isn’t the only project that explains how hard-to-see surveillance might be countered. In October, a Dutch artist claimed to invent a shirt that confused facial-recognition algorithms; before that, the American designer Adam Harvey explored make-up, hair-dos and shawls that could confuse the facial- or body-recognition software used in drones.